List of female governors in India

In India, a governor is the constitutional head of each of the twenty-eight states. The governor is appointed by the President of India for a term of five years, and holds office at the President's pleasure. The governor is de jure head of the state government; all its executive actions are taken in the governor's name. However, the governor must act on the advice of the popularly elected council of ministers, headed by the chief minister, who thus hold de facto executive authority at the state-level. The Constitution of India also empowers the governor to act upon their own discretion, such as the ability to appoint or dismiss a ministry, recommend President's rule, or reserve bills for the President's assent. Over the years, the exercise of these discretionary powers have given rise to conflict between the elected chief minister and the union government–appointed governor.^[1]

Map showing the number of the female Governors, Lieutenant Governors and Administrators served in Indian States and Union Territories

Sarojini Naidu was the first woman to become the governor of an Indian state.^[2] She governed Uttar Pradesh from 15 August 1947 to 2 March 1949. Her daughter, Padmaja Naidu, is the longest-serving female governor with almost 11 years tenure in West Bengal.^[3] Tamilisai Soundararajan is the recentmost appointment as the first female governor of Telangana.^[4] Pratibha Patil and Draupadi Murmu later served as head of the state of India (President of India).

Governors

Key

*  Incumbent governor

No.	Image	Name	From	To	Term length	State	Ref.
1		Sarojini Naidu	15 August 1947	2 March 1949	1 year, 199 days	United Provinces	[5]
2		Padmaja Naidu	3 November 1956	31 May 1967	10 years, 209 days	West Bengal	[6]
3		Vijayalakshmi Pandit	28 November 1962	18 October 1964	1 year, 325 days	Maharashtra	[7]
4		Sharda Mukherjee	5 May 1977	14 August 1978	1 year, 101 days	Andhra Pradesh	[8]
			14 August 1978	5 August 1983	4 years, 356 days	Gujarat	[9]
5		Jothi Venkatachalam	14 October 1977	27 October 1982	5 years, 13 days	Kerala	[10]
6		Kumudben Joshi	26 November 1985	2 February 1990	4 years, 68 days	Andhra Pradesh	[11]
7		Ram Dulari Sinha	23 February 1988	12 February 1990	1 year, 354 days	Kerala	[10]
8		Sarla Grewal	31 March 1989	5 February 1990	311 days	Madhya Pradesh	[12]
9		Sheila Kaul	17 November 1995	23 April 1996	158 days	Himachal Pradesh	[13]
10		Fathima Beevi	25 January 1997	1 July 2001	4 years, 157 days	Tamil Nadu	[14]
11		V. S. Ramadevi	26 July 1997	1 December 1999	2 years, 128 days	Himachal Pradesh	[13]
			2 December 1999	20 August 2002	2 years, 261 days	Karnataka	[15]
12		Pratibha Patil	8 November 2004	23 June 2007	2 years, 227 days	Rajasthan	[16]
13		Prabha Rau	19 July 2008	24 January 2010	1 year, 189 days	Himachal Pradesh	[13]
			25 January 2010	26 April 2010	91 days	Rajasthan	[17]
14		Margaret Alva	6 August 2009	14 May 2012	2 years, 262 days	Uttarakhand	[18]
			12 May 2012	7 August 2014	2 years, 85 days	Rajasthan	[19]
			12 July 2014	7 August 2014	54 days	Goa
15		Kamla Beniwal	27 November 2009	6 July 2014	4 years, 221 days	Gujarat	[20]
			6 July 2014	6 August 2014	31 days	Mizoram	[21]
16		Urmila Singh	25 January 2010	27 January 2015	5 years, 2 days	Himachal Pradesh	[22]
17		Sheila Dikshit	11 March 2014	25 August 2014	167 days	Kerala	[23]
18		Mridula Sinha	31 August 2014	2 November 2019	5 years, 63 days	Goa	[24]
19		Droupadi Murmu	18 May 2015	13 July 2021	6 years, 56 days	Jharkhand	[25]
20		Najma Heptulla	21 August 2016	10 August 2021	4 years, 354 days	Manipur	[26]
21		Anandiben Patel*	23 January 2018	28 July 2019	1 year, 186 days	Madhya Pradesh	[27]
			15 August 2018	28 July 2019	347 days	Chhattisgarh	[28]
			29 July 2019	Incumbent	6 years, 9 days	Uttar Pradesh	[29]
22		Baby Rani Maurya	26 August 2018	15 September 2021	3 years, 20 days	Uttarakhand	[30]
23		Anusuiya Uikey	29 July 2019	22 February 2023	3 years, 208 days	Chhattisgarh	[31]
			23 February 2023	26 July 2024	1 year, 154 days	Manipur
24		Tamilisai Soundararajan	8 September 2019	18 March 2024	4 years, 192 days	Telangana	[32]

See also

• List of female lieutenant governors and administrators in India
• List of female chief ministers in India
• List of female deputy chief ministers in India
• List of female legislative speakers and chairpersons in India
• List of female opposition leaders in India
• List of female chief justices in India
• List of current Indian governors